CSKA's female volleyball players suffered their first loss in the Demax+ League. This happened during their visit to Levski Sofia, where the "Blues" achieved a 3:0 (25:21, 25:17, 25:12) victory over CSKA in the derby of the fourth round.
The "Blues" had complete dominance throughout the match, with relative intrigue only in the first set, when CSKA occasionally troubled their opponent with serves. Levski led the first part 16:12, after which it came to a tie - 19:19, but Radoslav Arsov's team was better in the end.
Levski's advantage was palpable in the second set as well, with the home team's organization of play being at a high level. National team player Mikaela Stoyanova ended the second set with a powerful diagonal attack for 25:17.
In the third set, the "Blues" allowed their opponent to score only 12 points, and Daria Ivanova scored the last point of the match due to the "Reds'" poor reception. Mikaela Stoyanova was the most effective for the winners with 17 points.
Mikaela Stoyanova was the most useful for Levski's success with 17 points (1 block, 1 ace). Guadalupe Ramela Martin (2 blocks, 1 ace) and Daria Ivanova (1 block, 1 ace) added 12 and 10 points respectively to the victory.
"We had full control over the match. We needed to rest because we had a tough match on Wednesday, travel, and almost no time to train. Now we have an even tougher return leg in the European tournaments. We wanted to finish this condensed cycle of important matches with a positive balance. We played with CSKA two and a half months ago. Since then, there has been serious development in our team and regression at CSKA," commented the "Blues'" coach Arsov.
Levski faces a return leg against the Dutch Apollo 8 in the Challenge Cup, with the team already having won their away match 3:2.
CSKA coach Yulia Ivanova accused her players of apathy after the loss.
With this success, Levski moved up to third place in the standings with equal statistics with CSKA, but with more lost points, as this was the "Reds'" first defeat of the new season.
